Canonizing Job Creators

The obsession with the figure of the entrepreneur reflects what may be called the "evangelical imagination," in American society. I use the term broadly to refer to a style of thinking in which the act of adopting a set of beliefs and attitudes is seen as profoundly transforming both the individual and the state of the world. The term also invokes the missionary fervor with which the advocates of particular ideas, beliefs, or products seek to persuade others about the value of these notions or objects. The world of entrepreneurship, ever happy to describe itself with pithy catchwords, appears to have eagerly adopted the term.